10.22: Basketball Sicko - Hour 3

have to buy them at the same time. But whenever you have purchased three, the next time you use that membership the Thornton's Refreshming Awards membership at the pump, thirty cents off per gallon. So again one of the many reasons why you should sign up. It's easy to do, it's free, and I can't like prove this. I mean, don't take me to court, but I mean I feel like your life will just be better if you're walking around as a member of the very very awesome Thornton's

Remember Thornton's Refreshing Awards membership program. All Right, been a busy show so far today. Obviously we're talking some basketball. Is Pat Kelsey and his and his brand new team. I mean, this is all brand new top to bottom, but clearly you could tell that already they've they've they've got an identity. They they they're gonna they're gonna play at least try to play every night the way they

played last night. Easier said than done, and they may play some teams that maybe end up being able to do what they want to do a little better than them. But that was not a surprise on my end, but it was refreshing to see that you can tell quite a way, Okay, this is who they are, this is what they want to do, this is who they want to be. And that's one of many things that you know,

you didn't have with the previous era. And I tried my best to not even really think about it, but it was impossible for me, and it seems like it was maybe not impossible, but it was almost human nature for others to see all the little things that stood out last night with their performance and even you know what you're seeing on the bench, what you're hearing from Pat Kelsey after the fact, and you know, it's not that anybody's going out of their way to like bring

up Kenny Payne and his staff again or try to like go back in time and think about that miserable two year stretch. But you know, you appreciate little things

a little bit more whenever they weren't there. And some people disagreed with me, and it's fine, But what I said at the beginning of the show and talking about Louis basketball and just last night the first exhibition game, first chance for fans to see this team in action, and you know, not a real game, but an exhibition game at the um Center as we are now less than two weeks away from getting the actual season started. It was just great overall. But what I said earlier

was coaching changes. For diehard fans, it's like a breakup or a divorce. The pushback that I got from some people on our text line was that you know, nobody would have stayed in a marriage that long, considering how

miserable it was. And you're may be right, but I bet there are a lot of people listening right now that might currently be in a marriage or a relationship that they kind of know is not good, but they just, you know, they're riding it out seeing if it gets better, or they just maybe don't want to make the leap and try to start over with somebody else, or maybe, you know, maybe they're sticking together because of the kids,

something like that. Or maybe there are people who have got a divorce and ended a relationship that they thought was going to be forever, but it didn't come close to lasting forever. Maybe it didn't even last that long at all, and they're sitting here listening to this and they're thinking, you know what, man, I should have done

that sooner than I even did. So again, I'm sure it may not be a legitimate comparison to some people, but what I meant by it was that you know, when you are in a relationship and you know it's going bad, and there's countless things that are real red flags that this thing isn't going to work out and that you two aren't meant to be together, and then you end up quickly with somebody else and they're doing things that you really enjoy, Like there's positives there's things

that are very encouraging about a potential long lasting relationship. I just think it's human nature to start looking, Okay, well this guy who I'm no longer with, at this girl that I'm no longer with. You know, whatever you're into, do your thing, no judgment, but you know, like maybe the exact let me give you an example, if you're a Kentucky fan, like, there are things that Cal did that probably annoyed the hell out of you. That's the

exact opposite of Mark Pope. And like with Kenny, it's deeper than that because it's not just about like how he acted, what he said, and his lack of you know, really any accountability, I mean everything. I mean, the results were terrible. It was an absolute joke. So when you don't have like multiple years of being single and you go quickly from one relationship to another, because that's how this works, that's how coaching changes happened, right, I mean,

Louisville had Kenny Paine as their coach. He was effectively fired and within a week we were already in a new relationship with Pat Kelcey. And you know, he started saying all the right things from the jump and now here we are. You know, he hasn't coached real game, but he's put together a roster, They've had an off season event in the Bahamas, he's done countless interviews, He's done things at every turn to try to get fans excited and engage with the program. And you know, these

are all things that the you know your ex didn't do. Now, at the end of the day, results are how coaches are are evaluated, and he's not even in a position right now to have given us any real result that

matters because he hasn't coached a real game yet. But as I wanted to kind of not even think about the last two years, when watching last night and hearing from coach Kelsey after the game, it was impossible not to find myself comparing and clearly realizing that this guy's a lot better than the guy we used to have,

and we all knew that going in. And unfortunately for Kenny, you could have hired I mean, not I don't know, like trying not to sound so heavy handed and not sound like I'm going on my way to like pick on Kenny, but I mean you could have quite literally hired anybody and felt that you were going to be in a better position and situation just because of how

early things went. So, you know, last night it was an exhibition game against a team that will probably never hear from again unless they play them again in an exhibition young Harris, but it was another opportunity for me to say, so far, so good for Pat Kelsey. Now maybe in a few weeks when they start playing real games, and we know some of their early games are going

to be against really, really good teams. I'm sure you know if there is a letdown or maybe a loss that ends up getting out of hand, and I'm not saying it will, but if it does, I know how this works, there's gonna be some worry. There's gonna be fans, you know, doing what you do as a as a lunatic fan for Louisville hoops. And you know, I don't say lunatic to be mean and insult you, but like, we care about this stuff so much. That's you know,

so so far, so good. And twenty fourth made three pointers. That was that was more than we've ever you know, I don't care. I mean, how old you are, you've never watched a Louisville team. Rather be an exhibition game or a real game and seen them make twenty four threes. And I don't know if they're going to do that every night. Obviously that sounds unrealistic to think that they would be able to get close to that on a nightly basis, But that's what they're going to try to

do because that's how this roster was built. That's that's the identity that Pat Kelsey has as a coach. He wants to have guys who can space the floor and create a lot of possessions that lead to you know,

a lot of high percentage looks from three. So again last night score one oh six to fifty nine, and here in Pat Kelsey after the game was again another reminder that you know you needed a guy like that that would come in here as hungry as he is, that you know is going to show up at five am and is going to again like this sounds a little extreme, and I think you guys know what I mean when I say it. He is somebody that would have crawled to this job, and he is somebody that

will succeed here or he will die trying. I mean, I hope he doesn't die. Hopefully if it doesn't work out, we just move on and he doesn't have to die. That wouldn't be ideal. But you know what I mean when I say that, like he is somebody that is appreciative of Louisville basketball, even though at the time he inherited it, it's not anywhere close to what we know it can be. And you know, last night's crowd clearly nothing like what we know the young Ciner can be

for big games, especially when things are going well. But even despite it being a smaller crowd, he was very appreciative of that crowd. And I don't think that was just lip service. I don't think that was just him saying what he felt like he was supposed to say for a crowd that clearly wasn't anywhere close to being

a large crowd in the grand scheme of things. He heard them getting excited, getting off their feet whenever his team was draining threes, would they make five of their first six or something like that led to a quick timeout for young Harris at some point in the first half, and you know, the place was rocking. So this is

all part of the healing process. And you know, last night it was awesome, to say the least, and one of the things we heard quite a bit from the pre his head coach Kitty Payne, was about how things were broken and how you know culture, I mean, just a lot of filler words that really you know, again, I don't want to go down that path, but like there were things that were said that like didn't even

make any sense. And I don't mean, like, you know, as far as him explaining basketball, but like he would talk about it like bringing broken. He would say that it was broken whenever he got here, and like, no, like last year, there was nobody on the team for the most part, that had played for anybody other than Kenny Payne here at Louisville. So like, if it was broken, then what is it now Whenever you leave two years later and it's in significantly worse shape than it was

when you arrived and you claimed it was broken. Like Pat Kelsey inherited this job at a worse time than anybody ever has. But you'd never know it by listening to him. You'd never know it by watching him coach this group and watching him out in the community engaging with people, trying to get people excited about louis basketball again. And to me, what's really been kind of of just an It's just it stood out in a major way.

Is that Like that's really the bare minimum, Like that's kind of the expectation, that's kind of what you're just supposed to do. Like those are things that are just a given, and yet you have to go out and it's not easy. You got to win at a high level at Louisville because that's that's the expectation, that's the job. But like all these things Pat's doing is probably just things he realized, Okay automatically, I know I got to do that. Like that that's something I can control. That's

something that really doesn't take you know, a real talent. Now, I think you can be better at it than others. And clearly he's good at that kind of stuff. He shines when he's got a chance to get in front of a microphone or a camera and sell himself, sell his philosophy, sell his brand, all that kind of stuff. So clearly others are better at it, you know, than some.

to work out. I'll never believe that, like he was sent here to tear us down by cali Peri, who he's now working for again, because that's just like I can't I can't believe that that would ever happen, and I genuinely don't believe it. But man, there's evidence and results that could convince somebody that is even a little bit prone to believe in conspiracy theories, like at every level, Like it was a complete mess and it's over and

that's good. But I wanted to give a one one more quick shout out to I'm not sure who put this together, but it was on the State of Louisville Twitter account. They they put they put together an edit with different clips of the previous coach and clips of you know, the current coach, and this is just like, you know, hearing this it's about a minute in fifteen seconds. I mean hearing things that were that were said repeatedly that we're all just nonsense, just excuses that we're not legit,

and it was just it was it was embarrassing. And then to hear a guy who you know, no matter what happens, Look, we may lose a lot of games this year. I have no clue, none of us really know, but it's nice to know that there won't be any any of you know, it was broken kind of stuff because at the end of the day, I mean, like I think Kenny came here feeling like a victim for being here, which I mean, if that was how you viewed it, man, how the hell did you end up

hiring him? But again, those are those any Now I'm just now, I'm just you know, jumping all over the place, going back to that dark place. But we'll play this and then we'll move on because there's a lot of other things I want to get into before we run out of time today. But again, shout out to the State of Louisville Twitter account who who put this edit together that I think really puts things in perspective as to where we were and where where we are right now.

As far as leadership with this basketball program.

It was a fight, and it was the first time I heard the young roar what do they call it in augusta National the Tiger roar, the young roar, I'm down for it. We didn't have the tyst that he wanted, so he didn't know if he wanted to play. I loved, loved those two walk ons at the end of the game putting their teeth on that loose ball over there in the corner, and our bench just went nuts. That

speaks to culture. That's what young people so number thirty five had one hundred and eighty seven free throws last year, Number twenty at one hundred and sixty one, and number twelve had one hundred and seventy. Like that's off the charts.

went at a high level, everything's gonna be okay. But you know, again, he's somebody that is either going to succeed here or he's gonna you know, I shouldn't say die trying because like I don't, I don't. It kind of sounds like I'm saying, well, he better winter, he's gonna die, and that's not what I mean. I don't want anybody to die. But I think, you know, you know, as far as figure of speech, you guys know what I mean, because clearly he doesn't take much time off.

I mean, I don't know if he sleeps. I mean, he's at the UMP Center yesterday at five am, which a lot of people start their day early, but like, you know, he never left. He's just in. They're ready for battle to take on Young Harris in an exhibition game, which some would say might be overkilled, but hey, you know,

he's gonna make sure he's ready to go. And I didn't really you know, a lot of things we learned about the last few years as far as us as a fan base and just you know, you learn a lot throughout that kind of stuff that kind of you know,

depressing situation. But hearing somebody, you know, I guess they're not like Pat Kelsey when he talks about the program and whatnot, Like he's not complimenting us as fans, but like he's complimenting the program something that we love more than anybody because we are, you know, we're the fans

of the program. And you know, hearing that, I mean, maybe that'll get stale after a while, but man, it hasn't yet because we had people succeed you know, failing to succeed at any level, I mean, just complete utter. I mean, it was a mockery. And yet instead of you know, knowing that it needs to get better, we were kind of told reasons why it can't be better because of broke things being broken and a culture this

and that, all that nonsense. But hey, it's over. This is part of the cleansing process, and you know now we're here, pack El Sierra is here. Kind of I mean again, not a real game, but last night that certainly felt felt awesome. All right, Louisville in Action on Friday night, taken on Boston College and doing remind you we are going to have the postgame show and the

pregame show. We'll go live from three to six here and then pregame show will start at six thirty, taking you up until seven thirty, which will be kickoff, and we will be live also doing the show on Friday from three to six at the offices of Alex R. White Lawyers to Distracted Driver dot com. They've been big partners of ours here for the football season doing the sponsoring the postgame show. So looking forward to being on location there, taking coffee and company on a little road

trip should be a lot of fun. And then again, as soon as the game ends, we'll go live right here reacting to whatever it is. I think Louisville is a better team than Boston College. I expect that they'll win because I can look at the three games they've lost and who those teams were and still realize this is a team that's got to clean some things up, and if they don't play well, they can lose to anybody.

But I think saying that I expect them to win is not in any way me being you know, just a homer who thinks my team won't lose because I love them. You know, there if they come out and they make a bunch of big mistakes, then you know, that's a recipe for a disaster on the road against a Boston College team that also needs to win in

a major way. They're coming off back to back losses against Virginia and Virginia Tech, so I'm sure Boston College is viewing this as a chance for them to get right because Louisville being four and three, even though the teams that's beat Louisville at this point are pretty good. And that's I mean, you are what your record is. I mean, I'm sure they're not looking at who beat Louisville and saying, oh, we should be scared, because you know,

the teams that beat them are really, really good. No, they're looking at Louisville as a team they can go knock off and you know, send their season in a positive direction after a good start and then back to back losses where I believe they were certainly not favored against Virginia Tech. But you know, I know they were against Virginia and they and you know they lost that

game by I believe a couple of scores. So I hate that we're in this position where the game is one that you don't have a whole lot to gain by winning. And what I mean by that is like, it's really just what you're supposed to do. It's not as if you went out there and proved something to anybody. I mean, a conference win has value, and hey, five and three is a lot better than four and four, so I guess that's that's the value. But really, you

have a lot more to lose here than gain. And you know, I don't think they're going to lose, but if they do, then we have to have a conversation that we haven't had yet. Despite the season being underwhelming at this point, we've yet to have a postgame show or react to a game where it's a loss that's like, you know, not inexcusable, but to a team that you can't really make the claim is very good and losing the good teams doesn't make you good. It makes you losers.

I mean, that's by definition what you did. But you can at least deal with losses to ranked teams and still feel frustrated about it, especially knowing you were close, you had a chance to win and you couldn't get it done like that actually is what makes it more frustrating. But it's not as if you've had to, you know, look around and think, how the hell do we lose to them? I think Boston College might be that kind

of team if you don't get it done. So here's to hoping that they do exactly that they get it done. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side. I want to take a look at what Yahoo Sports put together a rundown of all the remaining undefeated teams left in college football, because I think of all, I mean, I could be wrong here, but I think of all the teams that are currently undefeated, not a one of them, in my opinion, as of now, what I say is

realistically a national championship contender. I mean, that's just a guess. We'll see, but we'll take a look at that, and I keep this thing rolling along again. It's coffee and Company. Fuel about Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. We got about thirty minutes left here on a Tuesday afternoon. It is coffee and company, and we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety Nit Coffee the company man, mister John all On alongside you produced KSR

this morning. Did they confirm or was it just like something somebody put up on Twitter about Mark Pope running out of gas? Like did that really happen?

coach Mark Pope. So you know that being on Twitter doesn't make it real, but for it to make Kentucky Sports Radio dot com, I mean, most people are going to believe that it is in fact legit and he ran out of gas. Have you ever run out of gas?

I would never even have thought of that. But you are, You're always prepared, and you know, running out of gas is by definition being unprepared or you know, like I I think there's some people that probably I don't know. I could be wrong here, and I'm just thinking out loud.

I've ran out of gas one time, and I'll and I've never you know, I mean, I'm embarrassed, but I was really embarrassed by it because I thought like something was wrong with my car because my light came on and I'd never at that point been somebody that really like, actually, let me ask you this. How often has your light come on?

really scary. I think I've only looked at that. I've only seen that once. I'm sure it's happened.

it's not as if they have no money. It's not as if they like they just procrastinate, I think, or just don't pay attention, Like I just don't get how you get. I don't either know I'm with you, like because I like being stranded or having that happen is like a scary, scary scary thing for me.

being stranded at any point. When I ran out of gas, I mean, it was really embarrassing, and it was it was one of those things where I knew that I had to And actually it's more embarrassing the more I think about it and talk about it. But my gas light came on the day before and I completely forgot about it, and then I went home. I got up the next day, and at this point, I think I was on mid days and I was taking my daughter,

who was a little bitty kid. I mean, she wasn't a baby, but she was like between being a you know, a baby and a toddler. I guess, if that's the thing. She was probably like two years old, maybe three years old, I don't know. But when I got up the next morning, you know, I never even thought because in that car that I drove at that time, it wouldn't it wouldn't alert me that the light was on a second time.

It would just be on. Like now, anytime I start my car and the light and I'm low on gas, I get prompted again, like anytime I turned the car and I'm prompted. You know, I wasn't prompted in the old vehicle. I just had to be looking at the light and to see if it was on, which I should have known. It's just me being a dumb ass.

I'm not making excuses for it, but I couldn't remember that morning when I saw that the light was on, if it came on like at the beginning of the day, the day before, if it was like last night, like I couldn't remember, and I'm like, all right, I got to get my daughter to daycare in time. So sure enough, I'm driving and I'm I'm I'm coming down a hill on zone and road and it you know, and I thought, well, there's no way it got that low. There's no way that my car died because I ran out of gas.

And sure enough, that's what it was. It wasn't car trouble I had. I had to have my my wife's grandparents come and you know, pull off the side of the road and let me hand my young child to them so they could take her. And I'm waiting for my stepdad to get there, and he comes and bails me out and puts gas in the car and we're

good to go. And it was really embarrassing. But I think I was I was in denial that I would that I would run out of gas in that way that I'm like, well, I was low on gas, but I'm sure it's like gotta Maybe I don't know, Maybe it's the probably made up a part of a car that doesn't exist. Maybe it's my something shaft and no, it was just me being a dumbass and running out of gas. And I'm sure you know it'll probably happen

again to me at some point in life. But since then, I've been pretty mindful of making sure, like, don't risk it because it's you know, being stranded would be bad. But what's that say about somebody who runs out of gas? I mean, again, I've done it, but I know people who've done it multiple times, and I'm just thinking, like, man, you must like you must live on the edge, like you must really get off driving around, knowing at any moment car may just stop running because you completely, you know,

your bone dry. But anyways, apparently it happened to Mark Pope this morning, which again, hey, I mean, we'll see, but I wouldn't say that's a good sign. God doesn't even know when to he's gonna run out of gas, expect him to lead the Kentucky basketball program. Clearly, I'm I'm throwing some sarcasm in there. I hope you guys

can pick up on it. But yeah, I got a buddy who I won't I won't name, but he's he's probably running out of gas like five times and it's never been because of like he lost his wallet or he was like he had no money, or he didn't have a gas station nearby. He just like that's what he does.

national championship contender, but I don't think they are. I mean, they look like they're in great shape to make the playoff. But I still think when it comes to who's legitimately in the mix to win a national championship, I mean, I'm still thinking it's Alabama and Georgia, despite Bama clearly being up against it here. They already have two losses and it's not even November. That's not ideal. They may not even get a chance to play for it. But Georgia, Texas.

I mean, I hesitate to put Miami in there just because of the close losses that they've had, Like, we may end up getting a really fun playoff that features teams you never thought they were going to be there, Teams that you never thought would win a game. Maybe they win two of them. It's that kind of year.

But I kind of got to I mean, you don't just randomly win a national championship in football, and Oregon they've for years been viewed and they're the number one team in the country by the way, They've for years been viewed as if there is a team that gets a first time title, Oregon would be in play because more often than not they've been pretty good. They played for a national championship years ago in twenty fourteen when they had Mariota I think it was they came up

short Ohio State. That yeah, that's right. So you know, these are the teams that are undefeated. Oregon and their strength to schedule right now ranks twenty eighth, and their highest chance for a loss here according to Yahoo Sports, is when they take on Illinois, which is this Saturday, you know, and maybe they run the table. But I still would be shocked if they win the whole thing. Penn State, I mean there's six and oh, their strength

to schedule currently ranks fifty seventh. I'd be highly mean they should have lost to USC, to be honest with you, although USC's kind of fallen apart. Didn't they play USC already? Penn State?

Miami on Saturday. They avoided two losses narrowly, and then Louisville was, you know, on paper objectively a better team than the two that nearly beat them, and they came in and you know, they they could slip up and lose, because you know, anybody could, I think, but Miami can probably put it on cruise control right now and still find themselves in Charlotte for the ACC Championship and really, whatever happens there probably won't impact them getting a spot

in the playoff. Iowa Stayed is seven and zero and their ranked number ten. Their strength to schedule ranks thirty six. So the Big twelve, you know, they aren't getting a whole lot of love. I don't think they have a title contender, but I Aoway stayed at least at this point, they've got a decent strength to schedule, and if their toughest challenge is a Kansas State team, then maybe, I mean, what if we get a random ash year where you've got like a bunch of undefeated teams going into the

championship games in the conference play? I mean, and you know, if.

There's seven and oh their strength to schedule one fourteenth, and of course their obvious potential loss is Ohio State. They could technically lose to some other teams along the way, but with the way they've looked, I mean, I have.

at Ohio State. Other than that, the Hoosiers have played one of the weakest schedules of any in the country. Their best win is likely over too lost Nebraska at home this past Saturday, Will any weaknesses be exposed by the Buckeyes or others? And can the Hoosiers win without Rourke? So you know, I get it, like the schedule is what it is, but they're also not even keeping it

like I mean, they're they're blowing teams out. I mean the best if the best team they played is Nebraska, then you know, I think that speaks to how impressive they've been thus far because they killed them, I mean quite literally just beat the brakes off of them. So I mean, at this point, if you're Indiana, the Rourke

injury clearly is something to monitor. I know, the backup Jackson came in and looked pretty good in the second half, and he's he's a pretty good backup to have, considering he's always shown some talent, not as proven as a guy like Rourke. But I mean, I don't know, the injury is a real, you know, thing to monitor here and seeing how they look without Rourke in this game

coming up. But if you're Indiana, John and you know you're a big Indiana fan and you have a you can check the pulse of that football fan base, like, how are you not expecting eleven in one at this point.

oh their strength to schedule is seventy seventh. Their most likely loss is Clemson Army. How about this Army is undefeated and they have a stronger schedule than any of the other undefeated about that crazy. Yeah, Army right now is sitting at seven. And oh their strength to schedule. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm I'm being a dumbass again. Their AP rank is twenty third. Their strength of schedule is not great, it's one forty eighth. I knew that made no sense. So forget what I just said. Navy is six, and

oh their strength to schedule is one forty four. And then Liberty is undefeated, not ranked, and their strength to schedule is like one to eighty. So those are all of your unbeaten teams and out look, maybe I'm wrong. I would be highly shocked if any of these teams end up actually deep into the playoff. But maybe, you know, maybe Oregon proves me wrong, maybe Indiana, maybe Miami proves me wrong. I mean, these teams haven't lost yet, so

you know, so far, they're perfect. Right, quick break, We'll come back and wrap it up on the other side right here on Sports Talk seven ninety So running out of gas? You know from what I gather on the text line after we had that conversation, you know, many people, I mean have claimed they've they've never run out of gas and never come close to it. Well, you're more responsible than me. I mean, I don't know. If you ask people if you've been er if you're an adult

fifty years of age, I feel fifty years older. Like I feel like there's probably a time where you've ran out of gas one time.

least I try not to at that point. But yeah, maybe I'm just trying to tell myself that others have run out of gas to make me feel less like a dumb ass for having it happen. At least you know, just once, all right, real quick, before we get out of here. Let me give you another shout out to my friends over there at the Jefferson Animal Hospital, because when it comes to your pets, those pets are family. They're I mean, I don't want to say they're like

your kids. Some people get weirded out by that, but I also know people who do, in fact, refer to their pets as their kids. Right there. You know, and you know, do whatever you want, not bother anybody by living a life thinking and viewing your pet as your child. But if that's the case, then I would assume that that person, that pet means a lot to you, not

a person, but a pet. So with all that said, you want to make sure if something was to happen to your pet, that you know where to go, you know where to turn, and if you don't know, now you do. Because it's the Jefferson Animal Hospital on outer Loop. They've been in business since nineteen eighty, serving the community

for forty four years. They've got a doctor on site all hours of the day, every day of the year, including Christmas, because they understand that emergencies happen, and if in fact, an emergency happens middle of the night Christmas Easter or whenever you know you want to get your pets taken care of. So again, you can trust them. They've been in business since nineteen eighty. Give them a call f Ibo two nine hundred pets, or visit Jefferson Vets dot com to get more info. All right, we're

out of here, you guys. Enjoy your evening. We're back at it tomorrow and we will talk to you then. This has been another edition of Coffee and Company, Philbeth Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety